Bad news for Apple, but great news for anyone who’s sick of looking for different charger cables: the EU has announced it plans to force tech companies to adopt a universal charger port for smartphones.
It claims that it will be beneficial to consumers and reduce electrical waste (currently less than 40%).
“European consumers have been frustrated long enough about incompatible chargers piling up in their drawers,” Margrethe Vestager (EU executive vice president) said in a statement.
“We gave industry plenty of time to come up with their own solutions, now time is ripe for legislative action for a common charger.”
According to the EU, chargers are used by approximately 2.4 billion Europeans each year.
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The ruling will mean that the likes of Apple has to adapt their devices to use the same chargers as everyone else.
The vast majority of Android phones and other devices use a flat, round USB-C connector. However, Apple insists that everyone buys their’special snowflake Lightning cables for iPads, iPhones and Macbooks.
Apple have argued that the changes are unnecessary and will negatively impact smartphone users: “We remain concerned that strict regulation mandating just one type of connector stifles innovation rather than encouraging it, which in turn will harm consumers in Europe and around the world.”
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EU bigwig Thierry Breton pushed back against this, saying that “it is not against innovation. It is for European consumers, it is not against anyone.”
Smartphone makers will reportedly be given two years to fall in line with the changes.
Due to the large European tech market, it is likely that this will have an effect on all devices around the world.
Some claim that their devices will become obsolete due to the loss of charger cables.